Structural Dynamics Virtual Laboratory: A Learning Tool Kit for Young Engineers and Practicing Professionals (original) (raw)

Structural dynamics education in the new millennium

2013

Structural Dynamics is the study of the response of structures to dynamic or time varying loads. This topic has emerged to be one of importance to all structural engineers due to three important issues with structural engineering in the new millennium. These are: (1) vibration and problems in slender structures that have emerged due to new material technology and aesthetic requirements, (ii) ageing structures such as bridges whoese health needs to be monitored and appropriate retrofitting carried out to prevent failure and (iii) increased vulnerability of structures to random loads such as seismic, impact and blast loads. Knowledge of structural dynamics is necessary to address these issues and their consequences. During the past two decades, research in structural dynamics has generated considerable amount of new information to address these issues. This new knowledge is not readily made available to practicing engineers and very little or none of it enters the classrooms. There is...

A virtualized laboratory for earthquake engineering education

Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 2007

Physical laboratory-based experiments have been established as a fundamental learning tool in many areas of science and engineering education. They have particularly enriched engineering education by supporting different learning styles. However, the type of physical experiments is generally governed by the available infrastructure and resources, frequently limiting the exposure to valuable educational material to a relatively small audience. With the creation of ''Virtualized Laboratories'' this problem can be addressed in the form of realistic, multi-dimensional digital records, capturing the essential characteristics of a physical experiment. To this end, in this paper we present a virtualized laboratory for earthquake engineering education that utilizes virtual reality technology to capture and disseminate the results of shake table experiments.

Virtual Smart Structures and Dynamics Lab: Towards Teaching Advanced Concepts Online

This paper presents an overview of the Virtual Smart Structures and Dynamics Lab (VSSDL) at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi. VSSDL has been set up as a part of the 'Virtual Labs' project sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT). The aim of the lab is to be emerge as an effective medium of learning for those students who do not have access to specialized lab in the area of smart materials and structures or those who wish to take up and R&D career in this field. The lab covers experiments concerning interdisciplinary applications of smart materials and structures concerning structural dynamics. The lab provides two types of experiments-trigger based and simulation based, both of which can be effectively used for learning purposes. Students from all over the world can take advantage of the facilities to master advanced concepts thorough online experiments of VSSDL.

Web Based Visualization Techniques For Structural Design Education

2001 Annual Conference Proceedings

With the advances in information technology over the last decade, the traditional teaching format of having an individual lecture to an audience has been supplemented, and in some cases, replaced by the rapid development and implementation of new distance learning methods. As technology rapidly changes, the importance of educating and training diverse populations of civil/construction engineering/science students becomes more critical. Traditional lecture format teaching methods sometimes fall short of conveying the complex analysis and design principles that need to be mastered in structural design. However when the theories are exemplified in a virtual environment with multimedia, animation, interaction, and manipulated image visualization techniques in a virtual reality environment, students' conceptual understanding are enhanced. The important advantages of the virtual reality environment over other computerbased design tools are that it enables the user to interact with the simulation to conceptualize relations that are not apparent from a less dynamic representation, and to visualize models that are difficult to understand in other ways. The interactive nature of virtual environments made it a natural extension to the 3-D graphics that enable students to visualize real life structures before actually building them. The main objective of this research was to create an innovative structural design concept visualization methodology on a web-based interactive virtual environment. The principal elements of the presented approach are: animation, user interaction, manipulated image visualization, and virtual navigation. The presented paper illustrates the design concept visualization techniques for flexural and shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams. It was created using mainly Java and Virtual Reality Modeling Languages (VRML). The presented teaching and learning methodology employed a generic architecture, which was discipline/course independent, and can be adapted to various other civil/construction engineering/science courses that will certainly promote and enhance students' subject visualization and conceptual understanding.

Significance of Structural Dynamics in Engineering Education in the New Millennium

International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education, 2014

Structural Dynamics has gained prominence recently due to (i) vibration problems in slender structures that have emerged as a result of new materials technology and aesthetic requirements, (ii) ageing bridge structures whose health needs to be monitored and appropriate retrofitting carried out to prevent failure and (iii) increased vulnerability of structures to seismic, impact and blast loads. Knowledge of structural dynamics is necessary to address these issues and their consequences. In recent times, structural dynamics research has generated considerable amount of new knowledge to address these issue, but this is not readily available to practicing engineers as very little or none of it enters the class rooms. This paper argues for the need to include structural dynamics and the new research knowledge into the syllabus of all civil engineering courses, especially those with a major in structural engineering. This will enable our future structural engineers to design and maintain...

Interactive Web-based Visualization Tools for Teaching and Learning Experimental Earthquake Physical Modelling

Interactive web-based visualization tools using Java and VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) are developed to teach/learn fundamental concepts involved in simulation of earthquakes and large scale experimental seismic response of physical models. Experimental earthquake databases usually include numbers of records of time-histories of different measured quantities such as accelerations, displacements, pore water pressures, earth pressures, strain gauges and other quantities. Through animations, interaction and manipulation of images, the visualization tools enable the user to understand relations between measured quantities in space- and time-domains that are difficult to understand by using other means, especially in a large scale experiment environment where hundred of sensors are deployed. A 3-D rendering allows the user to visualize the real experimental model and experimental setup. Concepts such as seismic wave amplification, liquefaction occurrence and extent, and effec...

Ac 2010-338: Improving Student Understanding of Structural Dynamics Using Full-Scale, Real-Time Excitation of Buildings

2010

Current engineering educational practices often fail to prepare students to use computers effectively. In the field of structural engineering, fresh graduates frequently produce computational models of a building structure that bear little resemblance to reality. Unfortunately, the construction of a computational model is typically one of the first tasks a young engineer is asked to perform. In order to address this issue, the authors are constructing a series of experimental and analytical laboratory exercises which challenge the student‟s confidence in computer results. In the current work, forced vibration tests of the building are performed to obtain both the natural frequencies and the resulting mode shapes. In this paper, the procedure to experimentally determine the mode shapes is described. The student predictions of the building response before and after experiencing the ambient and forced vibration laboratories are then examined. One might think that experimentally determi...

Internet-based instructional resource exposing middle school students to structural and earthquake engineering

Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 2011

An all-inclusive web resource has been developed that links the study of earthquakes and engineering design to middle grades' (students of ages 10À15) science, mathematics, and technology. It was created to help students understand how earthquakes affect humans and how engineered solutions can mitigate damage. One key component of the website is an innovative internet-based structural simulation program that allows students to design and simulate the behavior of a building model under earthquake loads. The simulation component is coupled with a hands-on activity, where students build the model they have designed using wood dowels and pegboards. The students can then use a small shake table to physically simulate and experimentally verify the performance of their models under the design earthquakes. The simulation component has been calibrated to physical models using materials recommended for construction. The website also includes detailed information on earthquake engineering design, lesson plans for implementation in classrooms, a searchable database providing links to authoritative resources on earthquakes and other natural disasters, and national education standards for STEM subject topics. ß

An educational tool to improve understanding of structural dynamics through idealization of physical structure to analytical model

Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 2018

An innovative computer-aided educational tool for structural dynamics entitled "SDET" is developed to help students understand the idealization of the physical structure into a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system with five predefined example templates. The SDOF system then can be analyzed for a different combination of initial conditions and loadings using SDET. This tool can enhance the teaching/learning process leading to increase in engineering judgment and physical understanding of mathematical concepts involved in the subject.